Allow me to rant for a moment (you will see why it matters in a minute): We are just back from a trip to Thailand where we managed to combine work with pleasure (indeed the best type of trips). While exploring the old town of Chiang Mai, we sat down for coffee at a little cafe and got to observe a family of four who spent the full hour we stayed at the cafe staring at their mobile phones. The only interruption any of the family members did from mindlessly scrolling through their social media feeds was to share some particularly funny posting with the rest of the family. It was a sad sight to behold. And of course, this is much more the norm than the exception these days.
However, this post is not about our rapidly deteriorating social interactions – it is about business. To be more precise: One of the most powerful business habits of highly successful people.
See – I am very fortunate to be around a bunch of very accomplished folks. And the one thing they all do is to spend hardly any time on social media (or any other low-value time sinks). Of course, I am not telling you anything new here – focus on the things that matter, make the main thing the main thing and many other mantras have been repeated over and over again. And yet – too many of us spend too much time with things that don’t do anything for us (other than feed our hormone-inducing parts of the brain).
I keep it with Dieter Rams who’s design philosophy has become a mantra for me: “Less, but better.”
If you feel you are somewhat stuck in the current paradigm (and don’t fret – I was there too), may I suggest reading Cal Newport’s new book “Digital Minimalism”? Read it with an eye toward your productivity – and remember: Your productivity is what is between you and building the things that matter!